Brooks recorded a claim that "something very unpleasant" comes out of the sea at night and into the house. Later residents and holiday guests describe cold draughts, sudden drops in temperature and whispering voices with no one there. Mark Rees mentions full apparitions witnessed by residents including clergy, and suggests the local belief that the spirits come in from the sea to trouble people on land.
The most specific story dates from between the two World Wars, when a resident is said to have passed an Edwardian couple on the staircase. Apart from their old-fashioned clothes, the detail that stuck was their skin, described as thick and grey. The Great British Ghost Tour also records a disembodied voice asking, "Why don't you turn around and look at me?"
The house is let to holidaymakers by the National Trust, and Spooky Isles notes the waiting list for it is long, ghosts or not. The beach in front of it has its own phantoms, the riding parson John Ponsonby Lucas and Squire Mansel's coach, which have separate entries here.
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